


Betrayal by the ones you love

by Guntherfish



Category: Mutant X
Genre: Blow Jobs, Crying, Cuddling & Snuggling, Drugs, Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hugging, Hurt/Comfort, Kissing, M/M, Mind Manipulation, Nightmares, Panic Attacks, Psychological Torture, Self-Harm, Sex, Sick Character, Suicidal Thoughts, Torture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-06-21
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:40:29
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 15,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24832501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Guntherfish/pseuds/Guntherfish
Summary: So I had originally created a completely different story but I felt some parts of my first one would work really well in the second piece I created. Thus I decided to combine the two and it actually turned out pretty well.-basically Adam is rescued from dominion but the team felt Adam had betrayed them by “working” for the creator. Each mutant torments Adam until he is a broken version of himself. Will it be too late to bring the old Adam back?
Relationships: Adam Kane/Jesse Kilmartin
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1

The team had just returned from recovering Adam from dominion. They had found him in a far off hidden room along a dark ominous hallway that appeared to be abandoned or barely used. Adam was rescued and relieved when the door in his room was blasted open to reveal his team. Adam had been working at an old computer while being surrounded by three brute looking guards before help arrived. From the looks of the situation it appeared that Adam was helping dominion when in reality he was being forced to work for them in turn for his teams protection but that information was not known to the rest of the team. 

Finally reaching Sanctuary after a quiet and stressful trip, they all got off the helix. Rushing off the metal platform Adam quickly sped up the stairs, listening to the sound of his footsteps, and headed straight to the med lab. Once he reaches the glass lab doors, he pulls them open forcefully and immediately starts to pick up where he left off. Suddenly Adam hears the sound of multiple footsteps each with their own sound also entering the room too. Adam turns around to look at the four fuming mutants standing in front of him. Intimidated and scared, Adam feels his heart rate speed up due to the thick tension encapsulating the room. Adam finds his voice and opens his mouth to ask what is wrong when he is abruptly silenced when Brennan, Shalimar and Emma move aggressively towards him in a hostile manner. 

Emma uses her psionic ability to cause Adam to be momentarily blinded by an intense white light which stops him from leaving as he turns around trying to regain his sense of direction. While he is blind and disoriented, Shalimar’s eyes turn a dark golden color, which portray her hurt and betrayal; using those emotions and Emma’s blinding distraction she kicks Adam in the gut, propelling him into the far wall. Struggling to pick himself up, doubled over and groaning in pain from the strong kick to the gut, Adam almost collapses to the floor but yelps in surprise when Brennan's hand roughly grabs his neck and slams him against the metal wall with a loud thud, lifting him off the ground until his toes barely touch the floor. 

Seeing stars and bright lights invading his vision, Adam weakly tries to pry the large hand squeezing the life out of him off of his neck. Struggling, Adam gasps for air as he tries to bring as much air into his lungs to cry for help. Adam’s body jerks under Brennan’s tight hold when a jolt of blue electricity flows through his body causing intense pain to radiate from top to bottom. 

“How could you Adam? Why have you kept so many secrets: I thought we were a team, a family?” Brennan asks Adam, anger flowing through his words; shocking Adam after each question to ensure Adam understands how upset he is. 

“I onl-...” Adam begins to choke out, but is cut off as Brennan angrily punches him in the ribs extremely hard with the hand that is not strangling him. 

Grimacing at the pain radiating on his left side due to the force of Brennan’s punch, Adam begins to struggle harder in fear of what was going to happen next. Adrenaline is coursing through his veins speeding up his heart and blood pressure as he fears for his safety from those he thought of to be his family. Brennan interrupts his thoughts in a booming voice. 

“I do not want to hear excuses. We all do not want to hear excuses. We have run perfectly fine without you and that is not going to change now that you are back. We realized we never really needed you in the first place,” Brennan spits at Adam, squeezing his throat harder, while looking back at Emma, Jesse and Shalimar who stand there nodding at Brennan. Adam looks to Jesse, eyes pleading for help but sees Jesse is avoiding his gaze by looking at the floor uncomfortably, clearly unnerved by the events unfolding before him. 

As those cruel words are spoken, Adam feels his heart constrict in emotional pain as the words seep in. Adam feels his heart shatter, a large part of him breaking off and dying. His whole world crumbling around him as his family has done the equivalent of disowning him. His perceived family sees him as a traitor and hates him enough to attack him. The hardest part of this confrontation is that Jesse, someone who he has a crush on, hoping to one day admit his true feelings to, agrees with Brennan’s statements. 

Brennan throws Adam to the ground which stops his train of thought. Adam is lying on the floor, coughing as air can finally reach his lungs at full capacity and is oblivious to the daggers in which Brennan’s eyes are directing at him. 

“Let’s leave.” Brennan, Jesse, Emma and Shalimar begin to file out of the room. With one last thought, Brennan turns back around and kicks Adam in the chest, specifically the side he had punched earlier. 

Grunting at the sharp pain emanating from his side, having heard ribs breaking under the pressure of Brennan’s foot, tears begin to form in his eyes, leaking down his face. Brennan leaves Adam on the cold hard floor of the lab, leaving him to ponder what in the actual fuck just happened just moments before. 

After multiple attempts of trying to get off the floor, Adam walks over to a cabinet rummaging through the supplies until he reaches the medical wrap, an ice pack and some pain killers. 

Adam slowly, painfully and cautiously walks back to his office, holding his side in a tight grip as the movement sends spikes of pain to course through him. Adam slowly opens the door, closing and locking the door in fear of being assaulted again. Adam slumps and slides down against the door, bringing his knees up to his chest. ‘ _I cannot believe they would truly believe I intentionally betrayed them. My family. Now I’m just nothing more than a punching bag. A worthless piece of shit. They are right I guess, I did keep secrets, but only with the intention of keeping them safe. If I had known otherwise I would have told them’._ Adam tries to mentally justify his actions to himself as tears begin to run down his face like a waterfall. 

Closing his eyes, and breathing heavily, Adam both mentally and physically feels drained from the events of the day. Adam leans his head back against the wooden door, closing his eyes as tears still drip from the corners, and slowly drifts off into a unrestful sleep sitting against the locked door.

**_Adams dreams:_**

_ It starts off in the lab. Adam is fully facing the four mutants; he is frightened to be met with four pairs of eyes staring at him with menacing smiles. “Guys...” Adam quivers as he feels his heart hammering away in his chest.  _

_ Fearfully Adam stands up and tries to subtly walk towards the glass lab doors to escape as quickly as possible. Gripping the metal table behind him, Adam starts to pitch forward into a running position but is halted.  _

_ Catching on to his strategy, Jesse and Brennan leap at Adam grabbing his arms in iron grips and begin to forcefully haul him towards the medical chair in the middle of the room. Struggling to get away Jesse and Brennan quickly pin Adam who is flailing onto the chair. Brennan and Jesse pin Adam’s wrists and ankles to the metal restraints that are attached to the steel chair. Adam all the while is squirming and fighting against their solid grips and the restraints once he is locked in and secured.  _

_ “WHAT THE HELL!?!” Adam screams violently blood pressure sky rocketing as he is struggling to break free from the uncomfortable restraints. “BRENNAN, JESSE, SHALIMAR, THIS ISN’T YOU SNAP OUT OF IT!” Adam yells, a hint of pleading in his voice as he tries to break the mental trance that is plaguing them.  _

_ A flash of movement catches Adam’s eye as he unexpectedly receives a punch to the face from Brennan, stunning him both from shock and pain. The punch successfully halts his attempts at trying to break free as pain explodes from the impact of the blow.  _

_ Adam grunts as blood begins to run from his nose and down his face as a reminder of where Brennan had just hit him. Eyes filling with tears and uncertainty, Adam leans his head back against the headrest as his vision is blurred and his head is throbbing to the beat of his heart. His face both burns and stings from the punch as the skin to skin contact left an angry red mark. Adam tried to take deep breaths through his mouth so he does not choke to death on the blood running down his throat.  _

_ As he closes his eyes, Shalimar in one swift motion whips her hand out and fastens a strong grip on Adam’s throat, squeezing it tightly, strangling him.  _

_ Gasping for air like a fish out of water, Adam’s eyes pop open out of sheer panic as he opens his mouth to try and breathe in as much air into his lungs as possible with the vice like grip at his throat. _

_ “Shalimar please” Adam gasps trying to reach Shalimar and break her out of the trance that is clouding her judgement.  _

_ Jesse and Brennan, standing beside Adam and Shalimar, take the opportunity of Adam opening his mouth to place a cloth between his teeth and tape it down tightly with duct tape to prevent him from speaking and interrupting them.  _

_ Once the gag is firmly in place the hand at his throat is retracted and he is able to breathe through his nose painfully; at least with the gag in his mouth and the hand that was strangling him now gone. Adam angrily glances up at Shalimar mumbling incoherent words through the gag as Shalimar smiles menacingly at him clearly amused with his predicament.  _

_ “Listen closely Adam, you have betrayed us all.You are nothing! We will show you how it feels to be betrayed” Brennan menacingly spits at Adam as he turns to look at Jesse, Shalimar and Emma who smile and nod in agreement.  _

_ Frightened, Adam begins to struggle again like a trapped animal as he realizes the severity of the situation he is in and begins squirming in a panic. “Mmmmph!” Adam yells through the gag trying to cry for help.  _

_ Shalimar's hand is back at his throat, squeezing just as hard, to stop him from struggling, clearly annoyed at his continued attempts at breaking free. Struggling to breathe Adam is well aware of the darkening of his vision.  _

_ Jesse walks over to one of the cabinets he has seen Adam use many times before after returning from missions. He opens the cabinet and grabs a hypospray that has a sedative in it. Smirking, Jesse walks back over to where Adam is restrained, with Shalimar straddling Adam with her hand still firmly grasping his neck. Shalimar moves Adam’s head to one side giving Jesse access to Adam's neck. He presses the hypospray up against Adam’s neck and releases the drug. _

_ Adam, distracted by the need to breathe, is unaware of Jesse’s presence next to him and is startled as he feels the hypospray pushed against the side of his neck. Before Adam can begin to protest the drug is released into his neck with a swooshing sound.  _

_ Shalimar released her grip from Adam’s neck while dismounting him and admires the bruises beginning to form. Satisfied, Shalimar continues looking at Adam as he struggles in his bonds, watching as his eyes begin to glass over as he succumbs to the drug flowing through his body.  _

_ Weakly Adam looks up to his so called team and watches as they stare at him intently as he begins to fall asleep. With a final pleading glance at his team, Adam falls into the abyss of darkness going limp in the chair.  _

Adam jerks awake as his dream ends noticing the tears streaming down his face as his body shakes in fear. Sobbing Adam closes his eyes and drifts off into nothingness until the morning. 

  
  



	2. Chapter 2

**The next day early in the morning:**

Adam was startled awake when the door to his office was violently slammed open causing him to jump, grunting when his body protested the sudden movement. 

“Wakey Wakey Adam. Did you sleep well? No? Oh well, let's get started,” Brennan mockingly says clapping his hands together. 

Confused, Adam flinches when Brennan grabs his arm and drags him into an empty room and shuts the door. 

“I have waited a long time for this. We are going to fight. I have always wanted to train with you and what better time to do it than now.” Brennan smiles, clapping his hands together. 

Scared, Adam realizes he is in deep trouble. “Now Adam, I want a good fight. I want you to actually try. If I feel you are not trying I will punish you and we will continue this later. Understand?” Brennan states, amused at fear he is inducing in the older man. 

Adam nods his head and stretches his muscles, rolling out his neck and cracking his back as the muscles were stiff from sleeping on the floor. Adam is still very dizzy and sore as he watches Brennan get into his fighting stance, and beckons Adam to do the same. 

Adam puts his arms up ready to fight even though he knows this will not go well in his weakened state. 

Brennan quickly rushes Adam, but Adam easily sidesteps Brennan who did not expect the dodge, allowing Adam to punch him in the stomach. Growling at Adam's blow, Brennan turns back towards him baring his teeth at Adam and begins swinging a vast amount of punches and kicks, many of which land. Adam, only able to block so many punches and kicks in his weakened state, eventually begins to tire, giving Brennan the upper hand. 

Brennan begins to land blow after blow on Adam who no longer has the strength to fight back. Brennan lands a strong blow to his solar plexus immediately knocking the air from Adam’s lungs. 

As he tries to catch his breath, Brennan brings his elbow into the middle of Adam’s back which causes him to drop to the floor. Weakly, Adam tries to get up but is forced back down with a heavy foot stomping down on his back. Gritting his teeth Adam, as his face is up against the dirty concrete, reaches out behind him and grabs Brennan's ankle which he pulls causing Brennan to fall down. Brennan quickly gets back up to face Adam who has somehow gotten back on his feet. Adam, full of rage and anger throws himself at Brennan who was stunned by Adam’s sudden power surge. 

Adam is able to land some blows and kicks with surprising amounts of strength in his weakened state and begins to go for Brennans neck which is stopped when Brennan sends a bolt of lightning at him stopping his attempts. 

“Arggggh” Adam cries as he is flung across the room and collapses to the floor as he begins shaking in pain from the aftershock of the electricity. Looking up he watches as Brennan walks over to him grinning crazily. 

Brennan stands over Adam grinning and continues to kick Adam in the ribs. Adam can feel his ribs cracking and feels his back being assaulted by Brennan's feet. Unable to take the beating any longer, Adam succumbs to the darkness and promptly passes out. 

Brennan looks down at Adam’s bloody, bruised and unconscious body, smiling to himself. He stalks out the door leaving Adam laying in the middle of the room. 

Adam sleeps through the rest of the day as his body tries to heal itself from the beating he took from Brennan. Once he awakens Adam sneaks back to his own room and collapses on the floor falling back to sleep as his body gives in to the exhaustion. 

Emma uses this time to mess with Adam’s head again, this time creating a scene she and Shalimar discussed previously. 

**Dreaming:**

_Adam slowly begins to open his eyes, groaning at the pain in his head and body. He notices Shalimar and Jesse entering the room, both looking at him with mischievous grins. Adam notices that Jesse is holding a hypospray and tries to crawl away from the pair as they start to approach him._

_Shalimar uses her feral instincts and with animal-like reflexes puts Adam in a choke hold allowing Jesse to come up from behind and place the hypospray against his neck. The pair wait until Adam is completely unconscious before Shalimar can continue with her part of the “fun”._

_Jesse leaves the room nodding to Shalimar who walks across the room to grab a pair of chain restraints with wrist cuffs on both ends. Shalimar throws one end of the chain around a bar attached to the ceiling and watches as the other end falls back down. Shalimar then walks over to Adam and lifts his body up and drags him towards the chain. She grabs both his arms and places each wrist in a cuff. Once both his wrists are restrained she watches as Adam’s body sags back down towards the floor but is held upright by his arms._

_Shalimar quietly leaves Adam’s hanging body and walks over to the chair and sits in the corner of the room. Once sitting, Shalimar crosses her arms waiting for Adam to reawaken._

_Uggh where the hell am I and why does everything hurt? Adam mentally asks himself groaning at the throbbing pain growing in his head. As he looks down he notices his shirt is missing and begins to shake a bit in fear and due to the cold air hitting his bare chest._

_Shalimar stalks up behind Adam hungrily, startling him when he feels her sharp nails raking against his back. Groaning and wincing as her claw-like nails run up and down his back, Adam desperately tries to jerk away. Shalimar, enjoying Adam’s reaction, giggles and presses down harder._

_“Oh Adam, so pure with no marks on your skin will make this much more enjoyable” Shalimar exclaims, eyeing his back and chest with a large grin._

_Feeling Shalimar behind him, Adam tries to head butt her but is stopped when she grabs his hair and yanks backwards. Adam groans and gasps as she applies more pressure to his head. As she is holding Adam’s head in place, Shalimar begins to take one finger and press the nail into Adams' back , running it along his back hard enough to leave fairly deep scratches._

_Adam grunts and bites his lip to try to prevent himself from crying out in pain. Shalimar increases the pressure which deepens the cuts, causing Adam to yell._

_“Please...Please Shalimar stop. This isn’t you” Adam half sobs half yells, begging Shalimar. Blood begins to drip from Adam’s back as Shalimar continues to cut away at his back listening to Adam’s mix of cries and groans of pain with a feeling of power._

_For Adam, after what felt like a lifetime of being cut by what felt like knives, Shalimar releases Adam’s cuffs and watches as he crumbles to the floor landing on his back, laughing as he cries out in pain._

**_End dream_ **

“AHhh!!” Adam screams in pain sitting up. Frantically, Adam begins feeling for the cuts on his back only to realize it was Emma who caused him to dream this scenario and experience physiological pain. Pulling his knees up to his chest Adam cries, wetting his sleeves all the way through. 

Unbeknownst to him, Jesse had been walking to his own room when he heard Adam scream, thus causing him to sneak up to Adam’s door and listen to what was happening. Jesse frowns in concern when he hears the painful noises of the older man crying. Unsure what to do, Jesse decides it would be best to just walk away. 


	3. Chapter 3

**The next morning:**

Groaning at the pain starting to seep its way into his limbs, Adam opens his eyes, confused at first as to why he is spread out on the floor of his room. 

Standing up, Adam gasps and quickly grabs at his right side as the sudden movement jarred his fractured ribs. He also finds that his throat is extremely sore. As the pain subsides, the memories of the previous day invade his mind and the nightmares from last night. 

Instead of dwelling on that now, Adam begins to take care of his injuries, wrapping his ribs to prevent them from moving too much. Grabbing a water next to him on his desk, Adam grabs two aspirin and quickly downs them with the water, hoping to relieve some of the pain. 

Looking at himself in the mirror, Adam stares at the bruises on his neck, the blood covering his face, and the bruises covering the rest of his body. Adam begins to panic slightly as he remembers the murderous look Brennan gave him as he stood over him continuously kicking him until he passed out from the pain.

His stomach starts growling at him, realizing he has not eaten since yesterday morning. Although he is hungry, Adam believes it doesn’t matter anymore if he eats or not. Sitting down in his chair, he begins to see that his family is gone. He has no one now. He is alone and he deserved it. Maybe this was his repentance for everything he has done. The team had been right, they ran smoothly without him so what’s the point of being around. There’s no one to care about him or his well-being so why should he. 

And Jesse, Adam had long since hoped to be with the man, but feared ruining the team's dynamics. Any hope of that was completely destroyed causing Adam’s chest to constrict in shame. 

As he is thinking, tears start rolling down his face. Knowing what he can do to take the pain away, Adam walks over to his desk and grabs the military knife he hides Incase of emergency. He walks back toward the door, plopping back down to the floor, and rolls his sleeve on his left arm up to the elbow. He flips open the knife and makes three shallow cuts vertically on his forearm. 

Mesmerized by the sight of the blood forming and dripping down his forearm, Adam adds a few more cuts. He snaps out of his trance and grabs some gauze and wraps his forearm up. Once he has wrapped his arm, he grins at the feeling of pain radiating through his arm, distracting him from the emotional and mental pain he was suffering from. 

_If this is how things are going to be, the old Adam is dead. No more will he care for others. No longer will he show his emotions or let others get close to him, it’s less painful that way. It is no longer safe here. I no longer know I will not be hurt by those around me. But I have nowhere else to go so I must stay here._

Adam places a yoga mat on the floor and sits down in a meditative position. He prepares himself to build barriers in his mind which could last hours to up to a day. One reason is to try and prevent his emotions from being present most of the time in front of the others as a means to bring about the death of the old caring Adam; but mainly to prevent Emma from feeling his emotions and messing with his mind as it is part of her psionic powers. 

**While Adam is meditating; the four Mutant X team members gathered in the Rec room:**

“I’m surprised Adam hasn’t shown up begging for us to forgive him and making up excuses.” Brennan mockingly states, imitating Adam’s walk and personality. 

“Yeah, I agree where the hell is he?” Emma asks, still giggling at Brennan's impression of the older man. Closing her eyes Emma uses her powers to try and locate Adam. 

“What the hell!?!” Emma gasps holding her head in shock and confusion. 

“Emma what’s wrong? What happened?” Jesse asks running over towards Emma afraid that something terrible happened to Adam. 

“I’m not sure. I tried to locate Adam using my mental bond I had formed with him but it’s been severed. I didn’t know that was possible.” Looking back up towards her teammates, Emma notices the surprised expressions evident on their faces, while also feeling the fear rolling off of Jesse. 

“How the hell would Adam be able to sever a psionic bond!” Brennan angrily shouts, clenching his fists tightly at his sides at this new secret Adam has kept from the rest of them. 

“I mean, think about it. He taught us how to build barriers in our minds to stop psionics from non-consensually reading our thoughts” Emma states matter of factly as she stands up to face the others, “so maybe that is what he’s done. We do not trust him, and he no longer trusts us.” 

Watching the anger slowly dissipate from Brennan’s face, turning into a frown of irritation, the four of them return to whatever it was they were doing before they began discussing Adam. Jesse cannot stop thinking about Adam’s loss of trust in them, specifically in him. 

**Back in Adam’s room during the time in which the four mutants were talking about him:**

In his mind palace, Adam suddenly feels someone trying to enter his mind. Squeezing his eyes tightly shut, Adam forces the person out of his mind and mentally puts up the barriers he was trying so hard to conjure. 

Opening his eyes once he realizes what had just happened, his heart rate skyrockets as does his breathing. Running to the corner of his room, Adam pulls his legs up to his chest and cowers in fear of being mentally attacked by Emma. 

Waiting a couple minutes, when nothing happens, Adam stands up and tries to calm himself down as if nothing happened. Adam sits back down and starts to meditate once more. 

**The next morning:**

Adam opens his eyes feeling fairly relaxed when he is reminded of his hunger as his stomach growls loudly. Deciding it’s been long enough without food he gives in to the idea of finding something to eat. 

Adam sneaks out of his room and quietly walks to his office to check the security cameras in the kitchen. Hungry but scared, Adam wants to avoid the team as much as possible thus, hoping to use the kitchen when the four of them are not around. 

Getting on his computer, Adam finds that the kitchen is clear. Sighing, Adam quickly walks to the kitchen knowing that it is only a matter of time before someone comes into the room.

Adam reaches the kitchen and heads over to the cabinet filled with protein bars of all sorts. Adam reaches his hand inside and grabs a few bars. Adam then shuffles over to the fridge to grab some water to take with him. 

In his own world smiling slightly Adam is oblivious to Jesse walking into the kitchen. Adam hums as he places his items in front of him, smirking a bit. 

Clearing his throat, Jesse watches as Adam throws everything he was holding, clearly startled. As Adam turns to look at him, Jesse notices the dark bags under Adam’s eyes, the startling amount of bruises littering his face, and the paleness of his complexion. The scariest thing Jesse notices is what is in Adam’s eyes. Although still their normal brown color, they hold no other emotions except for fear. Not even guilt, which they hoped would get him to apologize was nowhere to be seen. His eyes were currently full of fear. Jesse wants to forget everything he was upset about and run over to hug and kiss the man while also finding out what caused the horrendous looking bruises to form on the mans face. 

When Adam heard the noise of someone clearing their throat, he dropped/threw everything. Closing his eyes as his heart explodes in his chest, Adam quickly deploys the mental barriers in his mind trying but failing to show no emotions . Quickly picking up everything he dropped, grimacing in pain as his ribs move, Adam glances over at Jesse but refuses to look at Jesse’s face. Only looking at the floor, Adam fears that looking up at Jesse’s face and making eye contact will cause him to get punched. Adams heart constricts painfully, knowing he will never get to be with Jesse as if his appearance were a painful reminder. 

“I...I was...I was just...leaving,” Adam stammers, trembling in fear. Adam stands up, head still down trying his hardest not to look up. 

Noticing Adam’s trembling frame, Jesse tries to get closer to the older man who begins breathing frantically while walking backwards, stumbling over a few steps until his back hits the wall. 

“L..L….Look...All I was doing was just grabbing some food an….and leaving,” Adam stutters, trying to make sure Jesse knows he is not hiding anything as his back hits the cool metal wall. Adam feels his breathing hitch as Jesse advances towards him as a flash of the nightmare he had rushed to the forefront of his mind. . 

Confused by Adam’s uncharacteristic terrified reaction to him, and partially hurt by the reaction, Jesse pauses his advance forward, giving Adam a sad frown. Jesse looks at Adam and decides to walk away. 

Adam watches as Jesse turns around and begins walking away. Adam then rushes out of the room as quickly as physically possible heading to his room and locking the door behind him. Adam drops the food and water on the floor and starts crying as he continues to shake from the confrontation feeling heartbroken. 

Back in the kitchen, Jesse is stunned, trying to comprehend what had just happened. Jesse mentally notes the changes in Adam’s appearance and personality and plans to bring it up with the others at a later point. Afraid for the health of the older man given the damage that was done to him, Jesse hopes they did not permanently damage him. 

  
  



	4. Chapter 4

**Three days later:**

Shalimar is woken up by the sound of fighting. It was not loud but due to her feral mutation, she has super hearing. Quietly, Shalimar makes her way towards the Dojo and is shocked to find Adam up at 6 in the morning. 

Shalimar watches as Adam is warming up ready to fight the A.I simulation. 

“Computer, put the simulation in realistic and remove all restrictions.” Adam commands as he allows his anger due to the betrayal of his family to override his thoughts. 

“Take off all restrictions; is he trying to kill himself?” Shalimar whispers to no one in particular. Shalimar notices that Adam’s sleeves are rolled up and her eyes immediately dart to cuts, some of which are covered in dry blood while some are covered in fresh blood. She continues to look at the cuts and comes to the conclusion they were self inflicted but not life threatening. She also notices the bruising covering half of his face, confused to the origin of those bruises. 

Shalimar watches Adam as a whole now and is impressed at his fighting skills. She notices Adam’s different fighting style. It’s more martial art like whilst being very intense as he continues to aggressively attack the A.I. opponent. Shalimar feels someone’s presence behind her and looks over her shoulder to find Brennan and Emma looking interestedly at Adam in the dojo. 

Adam senses multiple people watching him causing him to frantically pull his sleeves down, which momentarily disrupts his concentration allowing the A.I to kick him in the ribs and punch him with a strong right hook. 

“Hah, go figure, the old man can’t even defend himself against an A.I. No wonder we all were able to beat the shit out of him,” Brennan laughs looking at Adam and then back at Emma and Shalimar. 

Looking up at the A.I as blood begins dripping from his mouth and nose, Adam turns around and stares down the three mutants watching him. 

Shocked and speechless at the raw anger flowing from Adam’s eyes, something in which they have never seen before, and the bruises covering his face. “Do you truly want to see what I am capable of?” Adam asks darkly. Turning back towards the A.I, letting his rage fuel him, Adam rushes his opponent. 

Adam doges the opponents punches and kicks easily. He slides under the Opponent’s legs as he kicks out at Adam. Adam runs up the wall behind the A.I that is struggling to track his movement. Adam flips over the A.I and lands behind him quickly grabbing the A.I opponents neck and twists, breaking it with a sickening crack. 

“Opponent has been defeated. Do you want to restart simulation?” the computer asks waiting for a response. 

“No *cough*.” Adam responds panting from the workout. Grabbing his ribs and grimacing at the pain in which the cough produced, Adam turns around to look at the three mutants, two of which are staring at him with their mouths hanging open. Brennan glares at Adam looking unimpressed even though he is slightly horrified at the older man's strength and actions, while also wondering why he did not show this feat of strength when they fought a couple days before. 

Adam walks down the steps of the dojo and glances at the three of them. Eyes and face devoid of any emotion, Adam walks past them and strolls back to his room to shower and then look at his aching ribs. 

**Back near the dojo:**

“What the hell was that.” Emma asks, finally closing her mouth from shock. “He just broke the A.I opponents neck. He fully snapped its neck with a twist.” 

“Did you guys see the rage in Adam’s eyes?” Asks Shalimar, hoping she wasn’t the only one. Emma and Brennan nod as they had seen the same thing. 

“And when he walked past us, his eyes seemed dead. There was nothing in them. It was as if he is a robot and is unable to show emotions. I tried to read him but felt nothing but anger and for some strange reason, fear,” Emma states, frowning as her eyebrows knit together in thought as she tries to explain the reason for the fear she felt. 

Shrugging her shoulders, Emma looks up at both Brennan and Shalimar who look equally as confused. Brennan though appears bored and begins to walk towards the kitchen. Shalimar looks at Emma with a guilty look. 

“Do you think this is because of what happened a few days ago?” Shalimar asks, looking at her feet in shame. 

Emma ponders that thought and looks back towards Shalimar. “It is highly likely that what happened caused this. I thought the point of what we did was to get him to see that hiding secrets and information has consequences while showing how serious we were.”

“Also, did you notice how he looked, I mean physically. He looks like he lost some weight and has terrible bruises on his face. His eyes are what scared me the most. I mean his eyes are basically dead. There is no emotion in them. It’s kind of scary. His face just looks so haunted.” Emma whispers to Shalimar. 

“Umm...because I was here first and he didn’t seem to notice my presence, I saw that on his left arm he had multiple long cuts. They looked shallow but probably hurt a lot. I think he may have been cutting himself with something. Most likely a knife or razor. Possibly even scissors.” Shalimar whispers to Emma. Worried and guilt ridden, Shalimar looks Emma in the eyes waiting for some sort of response. 

“I think we should keep an eye on him. This was not the intended result we wanted,”Emma declares, forgetting the anger and betrayal she had felt towards Adam as her mind plagued her with guilt at her own assaults directed towards Adam. 

**Later that day in the kitchen:**

Jesse walks into the kitchen to find Emma and Shalimar whispering. He hears the words “Adam” and “health” and decides now would be a good time to voice his concerns as well. 

Approaching the two girls, Jesse leans across the counter to talk with them. 

“The other day when I was in the kitchen, I had noticed Adam was in there. I tried to get his attention but I seemed to really scare him. The man dropped everything and wouldn’t even look at me and was trembling like he was experiencing his own personal earthquake. I wanted to go towards him to ask if he was okay but he just started shaking harder and tried to keep getting further away from me. Eventually I just gave up after he said he wanted to leave and he literally turned into the flash, that’s how fast he ran out of the room.” 

The girls look at Jesse noticing the guilt in his eyes, and then look back at one another. “Did you two also see the bruises on his face? I wonder where those came from,” Jesse questions, scratching his head in confusion. 

“We should continue to keep an eye on him. If things continue to get worse we should do something about it.” Emma declares. Both nodding in agreement Jesse and Shalimar decide to head to the rec room. 

**Later that day:**

Jesse calls both Shalimar and Emma, asking them to meet him in the computer room. Hearing the footsteps indicating their arrival Jesse turns around in his chair to face them. 

“I did some digging through the security cameras as I was concerned about the bruising all over his face. I found this.” Jesse points to the monitor that is playing a video of when Brennan took Adam into one of the empty rooms and beat the crap out of him. 

“Oh my god! How could he do this!” Emma gasps, watching in horror as her teammate beats Adam to a bloody pulp. 

Both Jesse and Emma look at Shalimar who begins growling in anger at the sight of her father figure being hurt. 

“ I admit that I may have messed with his head, causing him terrible nightmares but I would never purposely beat him up. I mean yes when I blinded him that was physical but to truly beat him into unconsciousness is just cruel.” Emma shakes her head, continuing to stare at the screen as tears fall down her face. 

“We cannot say anything to Brennan. For all we know he will take it out on Adam. He hasn’t appeared to have any more newer bruises but we 100% need to keep and eye out for him.” Jesse turns off the monitor and the three of them leave the computer room. 


	5. Chapter 5

**Two days later:**

Adam glances down, brow furrowed in deep thought, as he tries to come up with the answer to one of the prompts in his crossword booklet. 

For about ten minutes, Jesse had been silently watching Adam from the kitchen entrance, looking at the older man in sympathy. 

Building up the courage to approach Adam, Jesse knocks on the doorway, signaling to Adam that there is someone else in the room with him. 

Jumping slightly, Adam turns towards the source of the knock, feeling his heart sink slightly once he realizes it’s Jesse. Strangely, Adam does not feel as intimidated by Jesse as he does Brennan. 

Jesse casually walks up next to Adam, frowning internally when Adam’s body tenses up as he takes the open seat next to the man. 

“Watcha doing?” Jesse flirtaly asks while resting his elbow on the table looking up at Adam. 

“I was just ummm…doing a crossword puzzle,” Adam mutters, blushing slightly, while biting his lip as his anxiety radiates off him. 

“Ooo I love crossword puzzles! Could I help?” Jesse asks excitedly. Adam raises his eyebrow, confused by Jesse’s decision to interact with him. 

Sighing, “Sure. I could um… use the help.” Adam hangs his head slightly as if embarrassed by asking for help. 

Jesse grins from ear to ear and begins to help Adam with his crossword puzzle. The two sit together for a long time, Jesse purposely guessing wrong answers to see Adam’s eyes light up with intelligence when explaining the correct answer to Jesse. 

Adam’s nerves calm down greatly as Jesse and him continue to work together. The nerves suddenly spike back up when Brennan stomps into the room. 

“Jesse? What are you doing sitting with Adam?” Brennan snaps angrily. 

Feeling the intense angry stare being directed at him by Brennan, while flashes of Brennan hurting him travel through his mind, Adam ducks his head shaking slightly in anticipation of being hurt. 

Jesse looks up to Brennan, allowing his annoyance to show on his face when he realizes Adam is shaking next to him. Jesse recalls the video he watched resulting in him glaring at Brennan. 

“I was just helping Adam do a crossword puzzle. The two of us were having fun completing it, right Adam?” Jesse looks back at Adam smiling, watching the older man give a small embarrassed nod. 

Brennan raises an eyebrow while approaching Jesse.

Adam quickly jumps/falls from the chair, fear and adrenaline coursing through him as his fight or flight mode activates. 

“I’m gonna go back to my room. Keep the booklet, I have more in my office. Okay bye,” Adam hurriedly states, trying to get out of the kitchen as fast as humanly possible to get far enough away from Brennan. 

Jesse frowns as he watches Adam run out of the kitchen, feeling his heart ache in sympathy for the man. 

Jesse whips his head around to glare at Brennan who returns the look with a smug smirk. Jesse then gets up from his chair, completely fed up with Brennan and walks towards his own room. 

**The next day:**

Shalimar, while walking down the hallway, notices Adam standing by the fountain by himself, clearly oblivious to the world around him as he looks into the water with a far away gaze. 

“Adam?” Shalimar asks, hoping not to startle the man. 

Unsuccessful, Adam jumps at being called and turns to look at Shalimar. Adam looks at Shalimar, then quickly drops his gaze to the floor afraid to look up. 

“I...I was just um….” Adam stutters while rubbing his chest as he remembers the dream of being cut by her nails. Shalimar frowns at his terrified reaction, then remembers what she had Emma create for her in a dream to torment Adam. 

“It’s okay, I do the same thing sometimes. Just looking at the water in the fountain can be so relaxing.” Adam looks up from the ground and nods slightly realizing she was not planning on skinning him. 

“I am going to go now,” Adam hurriedly states half walking half running towards his room, stumbling once over his feet. 

Upset, Shalimar takes note of this interaction and plans to tell both Emma and Jesse. 


	6. Chapter 6

**Two days later:**

Adam basically falls out of his chair when he receives a knock on the door to his office. Confused and slightly scared, Adam creeps his way to the door, looking through the peephole. 

Muscles visibly relaxing, Adam lets out a sigh when he sees Jesse on the other side of the door. Hesitantly, Adam reaches for the doorknob and opens the door. 

Jesse, smiling brightly at Adam's decision to open his door, analyzes the man's appearance. Noticing the loss of weight, Jesse comes up with a plan to get Adam out of his room. 

“I was wondering if you wanted to get some lunch. We do not have to sit in the kitchen. I just thought you might be hungry.” Jesse gives a lopsided grin to Adam as he watches the man fidget with the sleeve of his black shirt. 

“Um…,” Adam bites his lip, “sure I guess.” ‘ _ Why the hell not _ ’ Adam mentally asks himself. Jesse grabs Adam’s hand, not missing the flinch Adam reacts with and drags him to one of the smaller dining rooms. 

“What do you want? I can make us both sandwiches.” Jesse looks at Adam waiting patiently for a response. 

Turning red, “I’ll have a sandwich,” Adam mutters, still not fully trusting Jesse’s intentions. Jesse leaves to go make the sandwiches and returns with two PB&J sandwiches. Upon seeing this, Adam smiles at the fact Jesse remembered his favorite sandwich. 

Jesse plops down next to Adam; the two of them eat their sandwiches in silence. When Jesse finishes his, he looks at Adam, happy to see the sandwich completely gone. 

“So what did you think?” Jesse asks in a teasing manner. 

“Amazing. I haven’t had one of these in a while. It’s funny how the simplest things can make one feel better.” Adam smirks staring at his empty plate realizing he hasn’t really eaten an entire meal in a long time. 

“Well that’s good to hear. If you ever want a sandwich or someone to eat with just call me on your com-ring and I’d be more than happy to join you.” Adam blushes at Jesse’s offer unsure how to respond. Fidgeting with his sleeve again, Adam looks up at Jesse and gives him a small smile. 

“Hey Jesse,” Adam reddens as he scratches the back of his head, “ I never got to tell anyone but the reason I was ‘working’ for dominion was because they promised to stay away from you all. It was either work for them or they would hunt Mutant X. So I didn’t really have a choice.” 

Startled, Adam jumps when Jesse pulls him into a hug. Jesse holds Adam until finally the older man wraps his arms around Jesse returning the hug with a tight grip. Adam rests his head on Jesse’s shoulder enjoying the hug. Adam smiles a bit, happy to finally be touched by someone who is not trying to physically hurt him in the process. 

Jesse pulls Adam closer when he realizes the older man is crying slightly. Concerned Jesse breaks the hug to look at Adam. “Adam, what’s wrong?” Jesse whispers looking into Adam’s eyes. 

Adam wipes his hand over his eyes and returns Jesse’s stare, surprised by the genuine concern visible in the man's eyes. 

“It’s nothing...it’s stupid,” Adam mumbles looking down at the floor. Jesse grabs Adam again, wrapping him in a hug once more. 

The two sit in silence hugging one another for a bit before Adam breaks the contact and silence. “Um...I think I am going to go back to my room. Thank you for the sandwich and your offer.” Adam stands up and starts walking back to his room. Jesse is happy to notice that instead of rushing away from him, Adam walks with a more relaxed physique. He also was shocked to learn why Adam helped dominion. He plans on telling both Emma and Shalimar at a later on. 

**Later in the day:**

Jesse waves both Emma and Shalimar aside into a small room. Confused, Emma and Shalimar both give Jesse raises eyebrow faces. 

“So I had lunch with Adam earlier. Honestly I was happy he was willing to sit with me. He told me that the only reason he was ‘working’ for dominion was because he was given an ultimatum. It was either work for them or they would come after us. So to keep us safe from dominion, he had to work for them.” Jesse explains looking back and forth from Emma and Shalimar. 

  
“Wow. We never even gave him a chance to explain. God we are the worst,” Emma sighs grabbing her head. Jesse puts a sympathetic hand on her shoulder. 

As another week passes by, Adam becomes much more self isolated. Brennan does not seem to care much, and harasses Adam whenever he gets the chance. Yelling things about hiding secrets and one time cornering him, aware he scares Adam, enjoys watching him flee with fear after cornering him. Emma, Shalimar and especially Jesse become fed up with Brennan. Although Jesse is able to get lunch with Adam some time, the three watch as Adam slowly fades into the shadows of sanctuary as if he never returned. 


	7. Chapter 7

**That afternoon:**

“Guys we need to do something about Adam. This has gone on far too long and it needs to stop before it does some serious damage.” Emma declares. 

“I think it already has,” Jesse retorts upset.

Since this started Emma has noticed how hurt Jesse had been watching Adam deteriorate. She always knew he had a thing for the older man, and he was devastated when Adam disappeared. Once he returned she could feel Jesse’s joy at having Adam back. 

“It will be okay Jesse,” Emma places a reassuring hand on Jesse’s shoulder, looking at him with a knowing smile. Jesse realizes Emma knows he has a crush on Adam and blushes. 

Shalimar watches the silent interaction and starts laughing when she notices Jesse blushing. “Jesse come on. We all know you have feelings for Adam, you were not very subtle when he disappeared. I think Brennan didn’t notice as he was too angry to notice anything.” 

“Oh and Jesse, being a psionic, I can easily tell Adam feels the same way. He hides it well but it’s clearly there if you look.” Emma smirks as Jesse turns a darker shade of red. 

“Really?” Jesse asks, shocked, staring wide eyed at Emma. 

“Of course. Even I can smell it with my feral senses,” Shalimar teases enjoying how uncomfortable Jesse is becoming at the new information. 

Jesse looks back and forth between the two girls realizing that they are not just messing with him but telling the truth. 

Looking up at Shalimar he smiles. “I know, how about we ask Adam to cook a meal for us. Then we can get him out of his room and maybe show him we are not angry anymore.” 

Both Emma and Shalimar agree to the plan and start to prepare for later; discussing all the different possible food choices in which Adam can prepare for them. 

  
  


The day goes about with Adam meditating for most of the day, trying to find as much peace as possible given his current situation. At the same time, Emma,Jesse, and Shalimar prep the kitchen for dinner time. 

As it gets closer to dinner time, Emma, Jesse and Shalimar walk up to Adam’s bedroom door hoping to bring him out of his dark cave. Knocking on the door Emma is surprised when Adam answers the door. 

Not looking Emma in the eyes, “What do you want?” Adam mutters. Still looking at the ground, Adam’s muscles tense when he realizes Shalimar is next to Emma. Looking up slightly Adam’s chest pounds when he sees Jesse behind the girls, thus causing him to drop his gaze to the floor once again. 

“The three of us were wondering if you would make us one of your famous dinners you always brag about,” Emma asks, grinning a little at the small smirk that appears on Adam’s face. 

Contemplating whether or not he should leave his room, not sure he can trust the three of them, Adam submits realizing if they were going to attack him they would have done it already. So he follows the three of them. The three mutants try to get close to Adam, but notice his finicky reactions to being close to people; unknown to them that Adam mentally does not trust that they will not hurt him; they continue to walk to the kitchen. 

Once in the kitchen, Adam moves around the countertop surprised to see the supplies already set out. Adam washes his hands and begins to prepare the meal. Shalimar, Jesse and Emma are happy to see and hear Adam humming as he prepares the dish, seeming to be truly happy. 

After an hour of cooking the food, Adam takes the food out of the oven and places the food on the plates. 

Emma frowns when she notices that Adam does not take a plate for himself, and turns to look at Shalimar who nods in understanding. 

Suddenly Brennan stalks into the kitchen, temper rising at the sight of Adam and the food he prepared. 

“Where was my invite huh Adam?” Brennan snarls, “or was this a secret too?.” Brennan gets close to Adam who does everything in his power to not run away and hide. Jesse looks at Brennan angrily, who chooses to ignore it. 

Refusing to look at Brennan, Adam pleadingly glances at the three mutants seated at the table in front of him, but realizes the situation is hopeless. Jesse tries to give Adam a look of encouragement but sees in his features the defeated look. 

“Hey, I’m talking to you” Brennan shouts grabbing Adam’s arm. 

Right as Brennan’s hand makes contact with Adam’s arm, Adam leaps away from Brennan shouting “Don’t fucking touch me!” while kicking the younger man into the cabinets momentarily stunning him. As Adam sprints down the hall Brennan throws a lighting bolt at his retreating form. 

Getting ready to go after Adam, Brennan is restrained by Shalimar and Jesse who frantically try to calm him down. 

“Hey man, Brennan, how about you go to the club tonight? I'll meet you there in a little bit. You can go meet some chicks and stuff. Maybe you’ll get lucky,” Jesse suggests hoping to stop Brennan in his murderous rampage. 

“Sure, fine, whatever. I’ll see you later Jesse, hopefully surrounded by babes.” Brennan exclaims emphasizing the “babes” part. 

The three mutants wait until they are positive Brennan has left and try to figure out what happened. 

Suddenly Emma feels a wave of emotions crash into her like a linebacker tackling a football player. “Woah” Emma exclaims suddenly feeling dizzy at the overwhelming amount of emotions. 

“What’s wrong?” Shalimar asks grabbing Emma’s arm to help steady her. 

“I think the barriers between Adam’s mind and my own have just come crashing down. I am now feeling everything he is feeling.” Tears start to flow down Emma’s face, even as she tries to stop them from falling. 

Emma’s eyes become glassy as she looks through Adam’s eyes and gasps at the pain in her left forearm. Looking down Emma sees Adam holding a bloody knife and hears the conflicting thoughts going through Adam’s mind in that instant. 

Breaking out of her trance, Emma looks up at Shalimar and Jesse and frantically announces, “I think Adam is going to try and kill himself. He is in his bedroom right now.” 

Shalimar, being the fastest, sprints to Adam’s bedroom and finds the door is locked. She yells for Jesse who runs as fast as he can, looking a ghostly pale color. He phases through the wall and unlocks the door. 

Startled by the sudden intrusion, Adam through teary eyes looks at the three while halting the slashing of his wrists. 

“GO AWAY!” Adam screams at them through his tears, believing the entire dinner was just a set up to torment him again. 

“No Adam, we are not leaving!” Jesse yells back stepping into the room. 

Afraid, Adam tosses the bloody knife not really paying attention to where he was throwing it and watches as it almost hits Jesse. 

“I’m sorry...I’m sorry...I’m sorry” Adam mutters over and over; eyes wide at the thought of almost hitting Jesse. Adam simultaneously moves towards the corner of his room and ducks down crawling into a ball-like position and covers his head with his hands while shaking violently. 

The three mutants look at each other, all in shock at the sight of the broken man in front of them. The man who was once their fearless leader, who cared for them deeply, who never asked for anything in return, was reduced to a broken version of his former self; And it was all their fault. 

Jesse steps closer to him, tearing up slightly as Adam begins shaking harder. All at once, everything becomes clear to Jesse. 

“He’s afraid we are going to hurt him again.” Jesse turns to Shalimar and Emma who are also stunned but not completely surprised. Adam was afraid of being attacked by them due to when they first started this and all the pain both physically and psychologically that they put him through. He did not trust them. He didn’t trust them to protect him, rather he believed they would hurt him. 

“Damn it, I told Brennan that physically hurting him would not go well. But nooo. Brennan being a thick-skulled asshole refused to listen to reason and now this happened. He even felt the need to beat the shit out of you Adam, we watched the video and it was horrifying. He also had to bring up trust. He doesn’t speak for all of us but no, he feels he does,” Jesse exclaims annoyed while shouting slightly. Feeling his heart aching, he just wants to grab Adam and never let him go.

“Adam we are so sorry, we never meant for this to happen. We were angry but didn’t think about the consequences our actions would have. Although we do not speak for Brennan we can all say that what he did to you was cruel and uncalled for,” Jesse soothes sitting down next to him. Jesse can feel Adam’s muscles tense as he reaches his arms around him into a big hug.

At first, Adam is hesitant to accept the hug. Once he realizes he is not going to be hit, he turns towards Jesse and clings to him, sobbing. Jesse’s heart breaks at the sounds his lover makes as he cries on his shoulder. Jesse wraps his arms tightly around Adam, allowing him to cry on his shoulder. 

Shalimar and Emma take Adam’s acceptance of Jesse’s hug as a good sign and also come closer and kneel next to Adam, enclosing him in a hug. 

“Why?” Adam whispers.

“Why what?” Responds Jesse. “Why didn’t you let me kill myself?” Adam asks, looking up to lock eyes with Jesse. His heart breaks even more as he sees the pain Adam is suffering. 

“Because,” Jesse starts stroking the back of Adam’s head through his brown wavy hair, “even though we were mad, Brennan was wrong with what he did and said. We all regret our actions. No matter what has happened, we still love and trust you. You were always there for us and we seemed to have forgotten all you’ve done for us.” Emma looks at Jesse feeling the longing radiating off of him and smiles. 

“Adam, Shalimar and I agree. We were both angry but we still trust you and are sorry you lost that trust in us. Most of all, I can never express how sorry I am for the nightmares I caused. It was selfish and cruel and I should have never caused them in the first place.” 

Adam glances up at them, giving them a small smile of forgiveness, but the two know it will take a lot more than an apology to fix things. 

Adam nuzzles into Jesse feeling drained from all the crying and the pain his body is wracked with. Noticing the heat radiating off of Adam, Jesse puts the back of his hand to Adam’s forehead, frowning. 

“Adam you're sick.” Jesse grabs Adam’s left arm. Wincing, Adam watches Jesse roll up his sleeve, blushing in embarrassment as the others see the bloody bandage covering up multiple oozing cuts. 

“Adam these are infected. You're a doctor, why didn’t you clean them?” Emma asks motherly, looking at the cuts over Jesse’s shoulder. 

“There was no reason to try and make sure they were clean.” Adam mumbles trying to hide a cough while looking at the ground again afraid to meet their eyes. 

“How about the four of us go to the med lab and scan you to see what’s wrong.” Emma stands up stretching her hand towards Adam, who hesitates before grabbing her hand. 

As he stands up, Adam suddenly feels very light headed. Stumbling, Shalimar catches Adam grimacing slightly as Adam yelps as his bruises are pushed on. Shalimar grabs his waist and helps him out of the room. 

Jesse goes around to Adam’s other side putting his arm around Adam’s waist helping keep the older man upright. Happy to finally be close to Adam and holding the older man, something he dreamed of doing for a long time but under different circumstances, he grins slightly. 

Slightly embarrassed but too tired to protest, Adam accepts the help. Stopping once along the way, Adam breaks into a coughing fit. Jesse sets Adam down carefully and sits next to him rubbing small circles on his back. Jesse continues to try helping Adam calm down and breathe easier.

Exhausted from the cough attack, Adam weakly asks, “I don’t think *cough* I have the energy or strength to walk to the lab even with support. Would one of you be able *cough* to carry me?” 

Turning a bright shade of red as Jesse picks him up off the ground, he clings to Jesse’s neck and shirt. Jesse feels his face begin to also turn red as he picks the man up off the floor and carries him to the lab. 

Jesse has to suppress his gasp at how light Adam feels. _How much weight has he lost these past couple of weeks?_ Looking down at Adam he realizes the older man has passed out from exhaustion. Holding Adam tighter to his chest, Jesse picks up the pace. 

Entering the lab which Emma had prepared, she watches as Jesse gently lays Adam’s limp body on the table and strips him of his shirt. Gasping, Jesse’s eyes dart to the colorful bruises littering his chest and torso. Shalimar walks up to Jesse and takes a heavy breath as she too looks at the bruising. “Hey guys, look at his stomach area, I think he may have been starving himself.” Jesse states pointing at Adams chest as his ribs protrude from it. Jesse begins to tear up at the thought of Adam purposely trying to hurt and kill himself. _I can’t lose you a second time_ Jesse mentally states. 

Emma, as if having invaded his thoughts, puts a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry Jesse, we will get him back to normal. We just have to get Brennan to stop acting like an ass. We also have to be there for Adam when Brennan harasses him instead of doing nothing.” 

Emma finishes that statement by looking down, feeling guilty for not intervening. 

Emma walks back to the computer and presses a few buttons causing a yellow light to appear. It begins running up and down Adam’s body, scanning him. 

Looking at the screen in front of her, she is saddened by the results of the scan. His ribs are fractured but appear to be healing. He also seems to be developing a pneumonia type infection, a result of the infected cuts on his arm. Luckily it is not contagious whatsoever to other people. Emma reads that even with antibiotics, the infection will just have to run its course and will get worse before it gets better. They can only try to treat the symptoms and wait for it to go away. 

The scariest part of the scan’s findings was how much weight he lost. Compared to a scan taken when Adam had just been rescued and brought back to sanctuary, he had lost 18 pounds. Before he was about 180, he now weighed about 162 pounds. Given even before this he was slightly underweight, the loss of 18 pounds made it much more noticeable. 

His nutrition input was all over the place, meaning he needed to eat a lot of different foods to get his body functioning again. 

Jesse and Shalimar had also been reading the results behind Emma and were heartbroken at the information.

Looking at Adam, sleeping restlessly on the bed, Jesse walks over to him and starts playing with Adam’s brown hair, moving it off his face. 

After wrapping up Adam’s arm in bandages while also wrapping his ribs tightly, Jesse picks Adam back up and carries him to his room. 

Stirring, Adam realizes he is being carried. Looking up, Adam notices the worry lines on Jesse’s face, and nuzzles into him more, enjoying the heat of Jesse’s body. 

Sighing at the realization Adam is nuzzling him, Jesse feels a shimmer of hope form at what he hopes could be the start of a relationship. 

Reaching the bedroom Jesse lets Adam down and watches him walk into his room. Jesse follows Adam into the room. “I’m about to do something I’ve wanted to do since I first met you Adam,” Jesse declares. 

Confused, Adam turns around to ask what he was talking about when Jesse seizes his mouth in a dominating kiss sending his mind running for cover, as the long, hard body presses against him. He gasps and moans in shocked lust as his mouth is invaded by Jesse’s tongue. He clutches Jesse’s shirt, holding on for support as he returns the kiss. All his long-suppressed desires roared, surging past his barriers like flooding tidewaters. 

Adam latches on to Jesse, wrapping him in a strong hug. Adam holds him so tight that Jesse believes it is as if Adam is afraid to let go in fear that it is fake. 

“Wait. Can you….Um...stay with me?” Adam whispers to Jesse still holding onto him. 

Smiling at Adam, Jesse nods as he unravels Adam from himself and starts to walk over to one of the chairs in the room. Looking back down when Adam grabbed his wrist looking at him intently. 

“Do you want me to get in bed with you?” Jesse asks, trying to keep his face as neutral as possible while his heart is pounding in his chest. 

Nodding, a little embarrassed, Adam let’s go of Jesse’s hand and scoots over slightly to allow Jesse room to lay down. Adam takes off his shirt and watches as Jesse does the same before getting on Adam's bed. Laying down next to Adam, Jesse is unsure what to do next. Adam turns to look at Jesse and tiredly smiles for the first time in over a week. 

Jesse leans in and kisses Adam passionately, happy to see him smile. Adam decides to just give in to his feelings and returns the kiss. Jesse, overjoyed at the fact Adam is continuing to return the kiss, wraps one hand around Adam’s waist, but frowns a little as the man involuntarily flinches. Jesse runs his other hand up Adam’s chest causing the older man to groan slightly. Adam pushes himself closer to Jesse, enjoying the physical contact with the younger man. Adam tries to stifle a yawn but it ends up as a small cough. 

Jesse notices how tired Adam is and whispers for him to go to sleep. Adam puts his head on Jesse’s bare chest while wrapping one arm around him; snuggling into the warmth that Jesse provides as his body begins to shiver again from the fever. 

Jesse runs his hand up and down Adam’s back, listening as the older man’s crackly breathing slows, indicating he fell asleep. Jesse pulls Adam closer and slightly on top of him, enjoying how easily Adam fits under him given their height difference. He places his chin on top of Adam’s head and closes his eyes, smiling for being able to hold Adam next to him but a bit worried for his health. 


	8. Chapter 8

**The next morning:**

Adam woke up warm and comfortable and smothered beneath something heavy. Thankfully, he was laying on his stomach and could breathe as his head was turned to the side. Luckily his ribs were not hurting much but it was worth it either way. 

There was something reassuring about the way Jesse clung to him. He felt safe and loved by Jesse, something he thought he no longer deserved. 

Jesse was lying almost full on top of Adam's back, one arm under Adam's head as a pillow and the other tucked around Adam's waist. He could feel the warm, moist air of Jesse's breathing against the back of his neck. He had realized that for a while, he tried to deny his feelings for Jesse, to keep things running smoothly, but since returning from the hands of dominion, nothing was right. 

Sitting up, Adam accidentally wakes up Jesse. A flush of heat burned along his face when he realizes the situation he is in as his mind has cleared a bit from the fever induced fog. Turning to look Jesse in the eyes, “What made you decide to take the chance now?” 

Sighing Jesse explains that, “When we thought you were gone, I couldn’t believe it. Once we heard you were still alive I was so happy. When I saw you trying to kill your self and refusing to eat, I realized I couldn’t live without you.” 

Crying, Adam hugs Jesse tightly, soaking Jesse’s shirt with his salty tears. Jesse wraps his long arms around Adam, squeezing him tightly while running his fingers through Adams wavy brown hair. After sitting in that position for a long time Adam breaks the silence. 

“You really couldn’t live without me?” Adam asks looking up into Jesse’s blue eyes, amazed at the amount of love held in them. 

“I’d never be able to,” Jesse smiled and leaned in for a long, deep kiss. Adam sighed, relaxing into it, opening his mouth to it. There was hunger and need, as well as love and tenderness and Adam responded eagerly, happy to finally feel cared for. 

Jesse rolls on top of Adam and begins feasting on his mouth. Jesse teases his lower lip with his teeth and then suctions onto his mouth. The kisses were deep and devouring, but paced and even. As though Jesse had planned it out in his head and wanted to get everything just right. It wasn't long before the only thought in Adam's head revolved around Jesse and he moaned with the loss of that incredibly talented mouth from his.

Jesse wraps both of his arms around Adam’s waist pulling and squeezing him tightly. Reciprocating, Adam drapes both arms on Jesse’s back; Adam leans his head back onto the pillow allowing Jesse to rest his head on Adam’s chest. Adam bathes in the warmth of Jesse’s body on top of him. 

The two lay like that for a while until Emma radios Jesse on the com-ring. Grabbing the ring, “Yeah Emma what’s up?” Jesse asks, shifting onto his back off of Adam. 

Adam frowns missing the feeling of Jesse on top of him and is cold due to the lack of Jesse on him. Adam snuggles closer to Jesse trying to warm up again. 

“Shalimar and I just wanted to check in on the two of you,” Emma ends with a little giggle. Adam immediately turns beet red causing Jesse to laugh at him. Jesse explains to Adam that Emma and Shalimar knew the entire time which makes Adam blush harder. 

“We are fine. I’m just gonna stay with Adam for the day. Let me know when Brennan returns so we can avoid him.” Jesse explains to Emma. Emma agrees to let Jesse know when Brennan returns. Turning off the com-ring, Jesse turns to face Adam again and lightly tackles him back down on the bed mashing his lips to Adam’s. 

Jesse felt himself being pulled into the heat of the older man. Felt his body mold close to his. He held on to the other's hand which seemed even more to be anchoring him to the real world so he couldn't float away on a cloud of emotions. Both men are together in a tight bubble at that moment in time neither wanting to come up for air. After an undetermined amount of time they broke the kiss both sucking air into their lungs.

“Jesse, are you sure about this?” Adam asks breaking the kiss looking for any signs of regret or uncertainty. 

“Adam, if I wasn’t sure about this I would not be here,” Jesse seductively growls going back to kiss Adam’s

neck. “I want you to know just how much I love you Adam. Now you just lay there and let me lead the way.” Jesse commands. 

Jesse pushed Adam down on the bed, straddling his waist and leaning in for another kiss. Adam moans and lets his hands trail over the younger man's back, down to his ass, cupping his buttocks and pulling him closer. Both moaned into the kiss as their clothed cocks rubbed against each other. Jesse didn't need much encouragement to start moving, rubbing against Adam. Jesse broke the kiss, let his lips drift over Adam’s jaw, to the sensitive spot behind his ear, before nuzzling into his neck.

Adam moans, as Jesse begins running his hands up Adams toned chest, pausing at his left nipple. Adam arches his chest slightly, groaning in the back of his throat. Eyes rolling up into his head, Adam gasps when one of Jesse’s hands starts rubbing circles around his nipple. Adam feels himself becoming even harder through his pants. Jesse shifts his attention to the other nipple, enjoying the jerks and moans resonating from Adam. 

Adam leans up and kisses back as he runs his hands over Jesse’s back. He continued to let out a string of moans and sighs as Jesse kissed his skin. He let out a low growl when Jesse’s hand slipped over his cock. Jesse continued to rub his hand over Adam causing him to moan louder.

Gulping, Adam stares up at Jesse seeing the lust in the man's eyes. His hot mouth moved up, sucking and biting on Adam’s nipple until it was hard, then giving similar treatment to the other. Teeth and tongue played over Adam’s chest and down his ribs to his abdomen. 

He kept his hand on Adam’s cock continuing to rub it and moved his lips to his neck. Adam let out a hiss of pleasure. "You keep doing that" Adam sucks in air and lets it escape making another hissing sound "and I won’t last long."

Hands clenched into fist, Adam moaned, not able to do anything except watch as Jesse unzipped his pants and mouthed his cock through his boxers. Moaning and jerking, Adam continues to thrust his hips upward trying to get more of himself in Jesse's mouth. 

Pulling down Adam’s boxers, Jesse takes one last look at Adam, grinning madly before throwing the soiled boxers to the side. 

A split second later, Adam’s brain just about shorted out when his cock was engulfed in Jesse’s hot mouth. His breath hitched, heart stuttering in shock at the sensation that flooded him. It was pathetic, but he knew he wasn’t going to last long, was barely able to hang on as it was.

Adam tentatively thrust his hips and was rewarded by an appreciative moan from Jesse. The vibrations sizzled around his cock and Adam jerked in response, pushing his shaft further into Jesse’s throat until suddenly, he was sucked all the way down.

Jesse groaned, the vibrations torturing Adam and tightening his balls. Adam continued to thrust his hips upward, groaning in irritation when Jesse’s large hands pushed his hips down. 

It was all too soon that Adam felt the tension in his spine, the coil of his gut and his hips pushed frantically, trying to get deeper into the tight wetness of Jesse’s throat. Then with one last hard suck, he shouting into a pillow he grabbed next to him to muffle the noise. 

Coming down from his orgasm, Jesse possessively grabs Adam’s cock and starts licking slowly up Adam’s shaft. Immediately Adam’s cock hardens while Adam tries to get Jesse to stop torturing him by bucking and jerking. 

Jesse , enjoying the power he holds over Adam, flicks his tongue over the opening of Adam’s cock, eliciting a muffled scream from Adam. Using his thumb, Jesse rubs the top of Adam’s cock, spreading around the pre-cum oozing out the top. Adam desperately tries to push his hips upward to gain more contact with Jesse’s hand. 

Jesse curls his fingers around Adam’s throbbing erection. Adam gasps and groans, arching his hips, his scrotum starting to tighten; when Jesse starts to stroke him, his fingers grasping Adam’s length firmly, Adam let himself go, climaxing with a muffled cry; his orgasm pulsing around his body with intensity. 

Jesse stands up and quickly strips down out of his clothing. He walks back towards Adam, flipping him onto his stomach.

Adam sighs, enjoying the warmth of Jesse’s body against him. Gasping, Adam is shocked when a lubed up finger works it’s way slowly inside, moving gently, far more gently than Adam would have expected given their encounter up until then. Jesse continued to mouth at the back of his neck, enjoying the feeling of Adam beneath him. 

Two fingers pushed in next, spreading and preparing him, easing the way with plenty of lube.

“So tight, Adam, God, I can’t wait to be inside you,” Jesse murmured against his ear. “Can’t wait to bury myself so deep in you. Wanted you so long. Gonna be so good. I’m going to make you come so hard you pass out.”

The words alone were sending shivers through Adam and he moaned through the pillow. He wasn’t fully prepared for the cock at his entrance, wasn’t really ready for the way Jesse pushed so slow and steady into him. His hands gripped the sides of the bed for support as the large, hard shaft invaded his body.

“Shit, oh shit, Adam, so fucking tight,” Jesse gasped, panting against his shoulder.

Jesse moved just a little at a time, loosening him with care, but doing so without pause. Adam had never been taken like this before and it was almost overwhelming in intensity. And then Jesse was fully against him, fully impaling Adam’s ass and his arms tight around Adam’s stomach. Shaking, sensations causing him to constantly squirm and shiver, Adam couldn’t catch his breath.

“Ssh, it’s okay, Adam, it’s okay,” Jesse whispered, kissing just below his ear. “I’ve got you, we’re together and nothing will pull us apart again, I swear, not even you.”

And then he started moving again, only harder and faster. A hand slid down to stroke Adam’s cock, which was already half-hard in response. It was pain and pleasure mixed, the cock in his ass and the hand on his dick. The friction and heat building inside him like nothing he’d ever felt before and never wanted to end.

Adam jerked when Jesse struck his prostate and sent a bolt of electricity through him. There was a weird keening noise and he realized with a jolt that it came from himself. But even knowing that, he couldn’t stop it. Jesse thrust hard, pushing in and out of him, the differences in their height causing the taller man to hump up into him almost awkwardly. His balls tightened again at the continued pressure on his prostate and the hand on his cock.

“Yeah, that’s it Adam, that’s it. Come on, baby, come on. Look at you, so hot and eager for me,” Jesse muttered, his hips now slamming against Adam’s ass.

One more thrust sent Adam screaming over the edge, shoving back on the cock that impaled him. Jesse cursed, shoving his cock as deep as it would go, spilling hot and wet inside Adam. Still shuddering through his own orgasm, Adam could only moan as Jesse’s dick dug in as far as possible, still spurting seed while his teeth bit Adam’s throat almost hard enough to break the skin.

Neither moved for several minutes, panting and slowly recovering from the mind-shattering orgasm. When the fog cleared, Adam turned around to face Jesse once again wrapping his arms around him in a hug. 

Adam rolled on top of Jesse, happy to just lay on top of him, drifting off slightly as his body tired from the strenuous activities. 

“Guys Brennan is back and looking for you Jesse,” Emma breaks the silence. Jesse grabs the com-ring right before Brennan calls him. 

“Hey Jesse you there?” Interrupts Brennan over Jesse’s com-ring. “Yeah I’m here,” Jesse huffs. 

Adam begins to panic slightly at hearing Brennan's voice while he is still on top of Jesse. Jesse, noticing Adam’s reaction, continues rubbing Adam’s back, calming the older man who lays his head back on Jesse’s chest. 

“Where are you? I’ve been looking all over the sanctuary after getting back.” Brennan asks in an irritated tone over the ring. 

“Look I’ll meet you in the kitchen. Give me a couple minutes and I’ll be down there.” Jesse stands up looking back down at Adam who misses the warmth of Jesse’s body. 

“I’ll just go see what Brennan wants, then I’ll come back. I will bring back some food. I want to watch you eat, and I mean actually eat.” Jesse declares giving Adam his best serious face, but fails as a smile spreads across his face watching Adam giggle. 

Jesse leaves Adam’s room after getting dressed, blowing a kiss goodbye smirking as he watches Adam blush. 

Walking out of the room, Jesse quickly walks away from Adam’s bedroom, just Incase Brennan had gone to find him. Entering the kitchen he is relieved to see Brennan sitting at the counter. 

“Woah what's with your look? Did you get laid last night or something?” Brennan teases. Noticing the annoyed look Jesse sends his way, Brennan gets to his feet. 

“Hey what’s your problem. You, Emma and Shalimar all have been giving me nasty looks while you look at Adam as if he was an abandoned puppy.” 

Angry at Brennan's words, Jesse feels his temper flare. 

“Your right, because at least Adam is decent to be around compared to your rude and cruel ass!” Jesse shouts. 

Brennan, stunned by Jesse’s response, takes a step forward towards Jesse when suddenly a voice yells, “Step away from him!” Both men turn to see Adam standing in the doorway clearly trying to suppress the coughs that yelling created. 

“Oh yeah what are you gonna do about it old man,” Brennan mockingly replies, momentarily distracted. Jesse takes that momentary distraction and punches Brennan in the face. 

“What the fuck Jesse?” Brennan yells as he stands back up holding the side of his face. Enraged, Brennan throws a bolt of lightning at Jesse. As if everything is happening in slow motion, Adam tackles Jesse out of the way, getting hit with the bolt instead of Jesse. 

The force of the bolt knocks Adam against the wall knocking him out. Jesse sees an alarming amount of blood begin to flow down the side of Adam’s head. 

Hearing a commotion the girls rush into the room just in time to see Adam flung against the wall by Brennan. 

Shalimar embraces her feral instincts and leaps at Brennan knocking him flat on his back, pinning him to the ground. Emma creates a psionic ball of energy and aims it at Brennan's head, putting him into a deep sleep. 

Jesse rushes over to Adam’s side and rolls him onto his back. Groaning at the movement, Adam tries to open his eyes but finds it very difficult. 

“Don’t try and move, I think you have a concussion.” Jesse moves Adam’s head gently trying to get a better look at the bleeding gash. 

“Guys I think something is wrong with Brennan. I mean he can be an ass at times but this feels off. Like something is wrong, like maybe he is sick.” Emma looks down at Brennan's unconscious form. 

“Let’s bring them both to the med lab.” Shalimar bends down, grunting as she lifts Brennan off the floor. Jesse gently lifts Adam, taking extra care of his neck and head afraid to hurt him even more. 

Once the three reach the lab, Shalimar places Brennan in the isolation chamber while Jesse lays Adam down on the bed. 

“Guys, I think Adam’s fever has returned, he is shivering a lot and feels really warm,” Jesse worriedly states. 

Adam opens his unfocused eyes and whispers, “Scan Brennan.” Jesse looks down at Adam and nods. He walks over to the computer and presses start. In the isolation room, a golden light appears over Brennan. 

Looking back down at the computer, analyzing the data, Jesse notices that parts of his brain are inflamed. 

“Guys look. His brain is inflamed. This must be what’s causing his excessive anger. It looks like it is pushing on the part of his brain that controls decision making” Jesse points to the red part of the brain scan. 

Adam weakly lifts his head up, getting the attention of the other three mutants. “In the cabinet,” Adam slurs, weakly pointing to the hypospray cabinet. “Third one from the right *cough* it should decrease the swelling.” 

As Adam finishes giving the directions, his eyes suddenly roll up into his head as he passes out seizing. “ADAM!” Jesse screams running over towards Adam's limp body. Shalimar joins him at Adams' side and helps him restrain Adam to help him ride out the seizure. 

“I think his temperature is rising. The blow to the head must also be causing him to seize.” Jesse runs over to the cabinets and frantically searches for a hypospray that says it will counteract fevers. As Jesse finally finds the correct one, he rushes over to Adam and inserts the drug, Adam immediately stops seizing, body going limp. 

“I think he’s just unconscious now,” Jesse states, letting out a sigh of relief. 

Emma grabs the hypospray from the cabinet in which Adam had directed her to and walks over to the isolation room, inserting it into Brennan. 

Immediately, Brennan starts sweating profusely. Suddenly his body starts shaking as he whimpers in pain as the drug begins correcting the swelling in his brain. Emma jumps when Brennan jolts awake. Looking around at Emma and Shalimar, he realizes he is in the isolation room. 

“Why the hell am I in here?” Looking up at Emma and Shalimar for an answer, he is annoyed when he does not receive one. Shalimar and Emma look at each other having some sort of silent conversation between each other. 

“What do you remember last?” Emma questions. 

“Ummm….I remember finding Adam at dominion working on a computer and that’s it. It’s all fuzzy from there. I also remember feeling angry and betrayed, still kind of feeling that way. Why is something wrong?” Brennan asks, looking up concerned at the two girls. 

Emma tells Brennan everything that has happened, noticing tears form in Brennans eyes from guilt as he looks down at his hands. 

“Really?” Brennan quivers, “I really did that to him?”. Rubbing his eyes in shock, Brennan looks across to where Jesse and Shalimar are helping Adam. 

“What’s wrong with him?” Brennan worriedly questions, fear oozing from him. Turning to look at Emma, he notices the shame written all over her face. 

“He was cutting himself. He didn’t take proper care of the cuts so now he has pneumonia. He also hasn’t been eating and god knows what else. Also when Jesse yelled at you, you threw a bolt at him but Adam pushed him out of the way. He hit the wall pretty hard.” Emma turns towards Brennan as tears roll down her face as well. Brennan grabs Emma in a big hug trying to console her. 

The two walk over to where Adam is lying as Jesse wraps a bandage over the gash on his head. Shalimar glances warily at Brennan, then back at Emma who nods, expressing Brennan is okay.

Groaning, Adam slowly begins to resurface as his eyes flutter open, only to be met with Brennan towering over him. Scared shitless, Adam flails off the bed running out of the med lab, stumbling towards his office. 

Once in his office, Adam runs over to his desk as best as he can, given the dizziness running causes his sickened body, and curls up into a ball; knees to his chest while leaning against the hardwood. 

**Back in the med lab:**

**“** What the hell was that?” Brennan yells worriedly as he watches Jesse spring into action chasing after Adam. 

“Let’s just say as of lately Adam has been terrified of all of us, but specifically you or your inflamed brain version of you.” Brennan looks incredulously at the two girls, then follows in suit as they leave the room to catch up with Jesse. 

Finally reaching Jesse, Shalimar sniffs the air and points towards Adam’s office. “I can smell him. He’s in his office.” Nodding Jesse opens the door slowly trying not to scare the man even more. 

“Adam?” Jesse softly and cautiously asks as he steps into the room. 

“Go away” Adam sniffs, coughing slightly, running his black shirt sleeve over his nose. 

Looking for the source of the sound, Jesse feels a tap on his shoulder. Turning around he sees Shalimar pointing towards Adam’s desk where he sees a shadow of a person hiding. 

Sighing, Jesse slowly walks around the desk, heart breaking at the sight of Adam curled up under the desk shaking and crying silently, while clearly struggling to not pass out. 

Kneeling down so he is level with Adam, Jesse inches closer to Adam, upset as the man tries to push himself even further into the desk. 

Adam through teary unfocused eyes, lifts his head up to look at Jesse; muscles relaxing slightly as he remembers Jesse is a friend not foe. 

“Adam, we gave Brennan the drug that helped reduce the inflammation in his brain. He is no longer a rage fueled asshole. He is now just a regular asshole.” 

“Hey man, not cool!” Brennan teasingly replies. Adam tenses at first hearing Brennan's voice, but calms back down as Jesse’s words reach his concussed and sick ridden brain. 

“He is better now?” Adam asks, looking to Jesse for assurance. 

“Yes Adam, I feel much better now and feel terrible about how I acted towards you. I’m so sorry for everything. Will you ever be able to forgive me? I know it’s a lot to ask and I’ll do anything to make it up to you. And if that’s not enough, I am willing to leave Mutant X,” Brennan pleadingly asks and declares as he steps around the desk to look at Adam. 

Adam shrinks into himself slightly, glancing up at Brennan. Noticing the genuine guilt in Brennans eyes, and the tear stains on his face, Adam nods. Brain fully comprehending what Brennan said, he looks Brennan in the eyes. 

“I *cough* forgive you. You are important to Mutant X. You were sick and not in control of your body or actions,” Adam mumbles, trying his hardest to prevent a coughing attack . His eyes begin to close as the adrenaline leaves his system, reminding him of how weak his body truly is. 


End file.
